New communities
This last year, I've become part of some new communities. Of which the two most important ones are Steemit, and Ultimate Frisbee. One is blockchain and web based, for bloggers and crypto holders, for communicating ideas and growing Steem. The other is on grass or beach, based on body movements, physical technique and stamina, real life team efforts. Two completely different communities, right? Well, yes. And no. Because in both Steemit and in Ultimate Frisbee, attitude matters. The spirit of the game, as we call it in Ultimate, and believing in and supporting the community, as we talk about it in Steemit - they are at the core of what makes these communities awesome!
Triple Mamasitas, and winning the Spirit Award!
Last weekend I was part of Windmill, an international Ultimate Frisbee tournament hosted in Amsterdam, where the top teams in the world come and play high level Ultimate. What was I doing there? Being lucky! I've only been playing for one year and no way I deserved a spot based on skills. A pick-up team, Triple Mamasitas, with mostly Spanish speaking ladies (I was the exception) needed more players and I was asked.
I had the time of my life. It was SO MUCH FUN to play a lot of Ultimate with a team of high level players. And in general, to get to watch others play and see what is actually possible in the world of Ultimate, what high level competition really looks like. I got so inspired to get much better. And gained a lot more very valuable game experience. Of the 16 ladies teams, our team ranked number 13. Which I am actually proud of, because with a team that only plays together for a first time we really improved as we went through the tournament. But even more importantly, we won the Windmill Spirit award!!
The Spirit of the game
If you are not familiar with the sport Ultimate Frisbee, you are in for a surprise. Because Ultimate has it all. To play, you need to be fast, need a great mind for game strategy, throwing skills, and you need physical endurance. And, you need to be in charge of your attitude and maintain the spirit of the game! Which means you stay respectful of all players on the field at all times, that you are honest about what occurs on the field, that any fouls or calls are solved between the players themselves, that you stay positive and supportive and appreciative of each other and of the achievements of both teams.
In practice, this means that after an awesome score, teams congratulate each other, give a high five, make a compliment. It's not part of the spirit of the game to get angry or loose your temper when you yourself or someone else makes a mistake. It's OK to be competitive, to want to win, to be fierce. But it's as important to appreciate quality, whether it comes from your own team or the other, to have fun to create a great match of Ultimate together. At the end of the game, teams come together into a huddle and reflect on the match.
The spirit of the game - being fair and positive, respectful and to give it your all - is very much appreciated in Ultimate. That's why at tournaments, apart from the regular scores for who won the game, all teams also give each other a spirit score. The team with the highest score gets the Spirit award.
Ultimate and Steemit
I started out by saying the Ultimate and Steemit community are very different, but have this one thing in common: attitude matters. In Steemit it is similar: going for the win is great, it is expected of any self-respecting Steemian, we all want to succeed here and we should. But as in Ultimate, we win AND contribute to the community. We celebrate our own victories, AND those of others. Fellow Steemians are not people we want to win from, they are people we want to create an awesome game with, together. It is not about being better than others, it is about getting better together. God I love that. I'm sure it is why I'm feeling so at home so quickly in both these communities!
Teaching others is the best way to learn
As I'm just starting my second year of Ultimate, I'm very grateful towards all those people around me, Ultimate experts from my perspective, who are willing to take me along, explain the game, give me feedback on my performance. Their patience and their love for the game and their enthousiasm to share it with me are such amazing gifts. Too bad they are not here on the platform for me to give a shout out ;). But I know from experience that as we involve new people into the game, as we teach others what we have been learning ourselves, our own skills evolve even more. Our awareness of what we are doing, of how we can improve, grows!
On Steemit, I see similar things happening. People who are taking that extra step to support the community, to involve others, to guide them and support them to grow - they get more and more involved in the community, more and more respected community members. It's not just in these two communities. During my two year stay at an ashram in India, one of the four life principles I was taught was called enriching. Enriching others, doing all you can to support them in achieving what they want - this was one of the four principles for successful living in Vedic philosophy. And I've seen it, it really works. Life is organized like that: when you share and give and support, when you operate from a space of abundance, life reflects all that back to you.
Mesopotamians
My Ultimate mentors are not on this platform, to show them some appreciation. I'll do that in real life though, on the field. But as this post is about attitude, about going for the win AND supporting the community, I want to show a bit of extra thanks here to someone who is giving a great example of that. A while back, I came across 
With so much Ultimate going on, I've been a bit more quiet on Steemit the last few days. But I wanted to share this somewhere (on the blockchain of course) that the support given by
Magical World prize contest
If you follow my blog, you might be aware I'm working on this Magical World series. I love to post about the little things which happen throughout the day, which can make a lot of difference and can add a lot of value, if you take the time to appreciate them. The idea is - the world is full of magic. And we are very capable of seeing it, and sharing it. And when we do, we make this life experience a more and more pleasant one!
I've been thinking on how to contribute to seeing more quality posts here on Steemit, and how to support beginning accounts. Since I love any topic related to growing more aware of understanding how rich we are and how much magic we have at our fingertips, I'll relate my contest (contestS, if this is going to be a success) to the Magical World theme. So, if you want me to find your posts, use #magicalworld as a hashtag. I'm looking for posts that share a bright moment, that include that certain positive and responsible attitude that I've been mentioning in this above post.
Specifically, for this first (possibly last, but possibly first of many) contest I'll ask you to share about how you've found support in the communities around you in your personal life. What or who has helped you grow as a person, what did you take away from the process? Or in short: What is your story of finding support, and how did it make your life a little bit more magical?
Summing it up:
Prize available: 1 SBD
How to participate: 1) write a post about finding support, and how it made your life more magical. 2) use #magicalworld as a hastag, so I'll find you. Replies to this post with a link to your blog also welcome!
And after 7 days I'll call out a winner and reflect on this first contest attempt!
Great examples
At the Windmill tournament, I got so excited to get better at playing Ultimate. Being part of the Mesopotamians project gets me very excited to grow into being that community supporting middle class Steemian! In general, isn't it just worth the world to be surrounded by beautiful and inspiring examples? To be part of communities that value attitude and mutual support? Hope you feel the same way, and hope you'll join in on sharing your stories! Let's add a bit of magic every day!
